Chapter 5 #2
She tore her gaze away and laughed. Her laughter was infectious, but it was hard to laugh today.
“Honey, no. Trust me, she’s far from perfect.
She can promise more than she can deliver, she’s impatient, and sometimes she lets whatever comes up come out of her mouth, no matter how undiplomatic it can be.
She just celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday last month. ”
“I’ve been talking to her about my job, so maybe she’ll enjoy hearing the real-life crime stories firsthand. What do you think?”
She giggled and nodded. “She’ll love it.
As protective as she is about the elderly population because of her grandmother, she loves a good crime story just as much.
Sevyn can sit down all day and watch those old crime shows, with some chocolate chip or white macadamia nut cookies and bottled tea.
She can lose herself for hours in that stuff.
She also listens to audiobooks about mysteries.
You can play those for her. Maybe I can go to her place and find her tablet and bring it up here for you. ”
“Don’t worry about it. I can download the Kindle app and read to her. You think she’ll like that?”
“She will love it. Having her own personal narrator would be right up her alley.”
“I’m glad that she has you, if she doesn’t have anyone else. Everyone needs someone.”
“I know. I don’t know what she’ll do when she wakes up and realizes her husband is gone.
Although they had their share of problems, I know that she loved him.
Although I can’t figure out for the life of me why.
She deserved better than him. Honestly, I think it was the fear of being alone that kept her going back,” Waverleigh mused.
“He wasn’t abusive toward her or anything, was he? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking,” I remarked, thinking about Paul and Lena.
“No, not like that. He was a butthole, but that was because he wouldn’t put up boundaries between his ex and him.”
“What do you mean?”
“His parents were wealthy. As you’ve noticed, they have not once come here to visit their daughter-in-law while she was in the hospital.
They all thought they were too good for her, except for one of his brothers.
But he was strung out on drugs. The oldest brother and the parents looked down on Sevyn, and they always tried to make her feel as if she were beneath them.
Because she never knew her mother, her father passed away when she was young, and she grew up in apartments, they didn’t think she was good enough for Ethan. ”
“I hope she didn’t buy into that bullshit.”
“No, she didn’t. She knew who she was at the end of the day, thanks to her grams and her dad before he passed.
Ethan’s parents loved his ex-girlfriend, and that’s who they wanted him to marry.
He was too busy trying to please his parents.
That woman pushed the boundaries until Sevyn and her husband separated.
He cheated on her during the separation with his ex, and he got her pregnant.
She found out about it on her birthday right after the celebration. ”
“That’s fucked up.”
“You’re telling me. Anyway, they had just gotten back together, so they separated again. They were going through counseling but still weren’t living together, as of the night of the accident. I’m worried that she’ll carry that burden and guilt with her.”
“Don’t let her,” I replied with a shrug.
“I’ll try. Her grandmother was good at putting Ethan’s mama in her place, but I don’t know what she’s going to do without Grams around to protect her.”
“If they visit while I’m here, I have no problem putting them in their place.”
“I’ll place them on the restricted visitors’ list. I have power of attorney, so like I did with you, I can approve or reject her visitors. I’ll reject them, but I hope that it’s honored.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because their name carries weight.”
“Who are they?”
“The Shields. Of Shields Security Enforcement.”
I turned my lips down because I was familiar with the popular security company that provided security solutions from systems to staffing and everything in between.
“I know that you don’t know me, Waverleigh, but I don’t buckle under pressure, and I don’t walk away easily, even with a gun pointed in my face.”
“Good, because she’s going to need that. I won’t be around for a while. I’m taking some time off to handle some business back home in Pennsylvania.”
“Hopefully all goes well, but don’t worry about her.”
“It will. My mom is about to have major surgery, and she needs someone to be up there helping her out while she recovers. I’m taking FMLA to do that. I’ll be there for a month, and then my sister will take the next month to help out.”
She leaned over Sevyn again and kissed her forehead. “This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, but I have to be there for my mom. My sister can’t get away right now, and it’s just us three. There’s no way that I can leave my mama to fend for herself.”
“Be safe and well wishes to your mother.”
“Thank you. Take care of my girl while I’m gone, okay?”
“I promise that I will.”
“When she wakes up, I know that she’ll be ready to go home.
I don’t think that is best for her. I’m sure his family will find some way to blame Sevyn for Ethan’s death.
I just don’t want her to be swallowed under the pressure.
If you can convince her to go into rehab, I’ll talk to the hospital administrator and see what I can do on my end. He and I used to be good friends.”
“I doubt she’ll accept advice from a stranger.”
Waverleigh laughed. “I suspect you’re pretty good at convincing people to see things your way.
Besides, it’s romantic. I tell you what, give me your number, and I’ll give you mine.
That way if she wakes up and freaks out on you, you can call me to vouch for you,” she offered with a wink as she handed me her phone.
I didn’t take it that she was flirting with me, at all, but she wanted me to stick around for her friend’s sake.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that after she woke up, I probably wouldn’t be around much longer.
I just wanted to make sure that she survived and would be okay.
I handed Waverleigh my phone, and she handed me hers, and we plugged our numbers into each other’s phones.
“Thanks. You’re one of the good ones,” she stated when she stood and headed for the door.
She had no idea how far from the truth that was, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. Instead, I wished her farewell. “Have a safe trip, Waverleigh. See you when you get back.”
“I’ll see you around,” she called before walking out the door. Romance was the last thing on my mind, and that was a conversation that I wasn’t willing to have. I was glad that she was leaving after that comment.
After Waverleigh left, I downloaded the Kindle app to my phone. I spent twenty minutes looking at book descriptions and trying to figure out the one that was right for Sevyn. Although Waverleigh had told me all those things about Sevyn, I still didn’t know her.
“I hope you like this book,” I stated in a low, gravelly voice.
Coming here helped me keep my mind off the fact that we buried Lena today and that she would never be coming back.
I stared for several minutes at the woman before I read. She had a tiny frame, and lying in the bed, I couldn’t tell how tall she was or how much she weighed, but I could guess that she was just under five-five, and just over one hundred pounds.
Despite the fact that she had been in the hospital for almost a week, her honey-brown skin was still rich in color and tone.
That told me that someone had been attending to her grooming, and I suspected that was Waverleigh.
Sevyn had long, curly eyelashes, thick eyebrows, and a cute, Nubian, upturned nose.
Full, round lips had a thin sheen of gloss on them, and her round face hinted at a youthfulness that affirmed Waverleigh’s statement of her being twenty-five.
There was a tiny hole in her left nostril that hinted at a nasal piercing.
Shoulder-length blonde hair was cut in a bob, and I along with Waverleigh brushed it often.
On my third day visiting, I saw Waverleigh brushing her hair and watched how she did it.
Whenever she wasn’t around, I found myself doing the same thing.
There was something satisfying about the act.
Waverleigh had come in one day and noticed me doing it and thanked me for my attentiveness to her best friend.
I shook my head trying to stop my mind from going down paths it shouldn’t. I turned to my phone and read the first story that I downloaded.